William Thompson

William Thompson is a real estate brokerage executive with 17+ years of experience spanning recruiting, sales leadership, brokerage operations, and brand strategy. His career began in technical staffing and recruiting before moving into residential real estate in 2009, and multi-state recruiting and growth initiatives has remained the consistent thread through every role since: he has built, scaled, and turned around brokerage organizations by treating talent acquisition and retention as the core growth engine, not a support function.

His track record includes driving agent growth exceeding 290% within a single organization, holding attrition under 10% for six consecutive years in a competitive sales environment, and leading a territory to a #1 market-share ranking. He has managed multi-state regions covering 600+ agents, stood up brokerage operations from the ground floor, and mentored individual agents who went on to build businesses, routinely exceeding tens of millions, crediting his coaching directly for that trajectory years later.

What he brings to an executive table is breadth: P&L ownership and brokerage economics, brand strategy and market expansion execution, agent experience design, and a servant-leadership operating philosophy that consistently shows up in how former colleagues describe him, not just how he describes himself.

He operates comfortably at both altitude and detail: setting direction and building buy-in at the executive level, while staying close enough to the ground to protect culture and hold standards under pressure.

He has moved beyond AI as a credential and into AI as an operating tool, actively deploying it inside his own business workflows from building recruiting and executive positioning materials, structured AI systems, and supporting market and opportunity analysis for strategic decision making. He currently holds real estate licensure in Florida and Alabama and is completing his Generative AI Leader Certification, with a Claude-specific certification next, extending applied experience into formal credentialing. He is positioned for roles that require someone who can rebuild or scale a brokerage's talent engine, translate brand strategy into measurable agent growth, operationalize AI across recruiting and decision-making rather than treat it as a pilot project, and lead through change across multiple markets without sacrificing retention or culture.

VP of Brand Strategy & Expansion at Preferred SHORE Real Estate (2025-07 – Present)

• Lead brand strategy and expansion for Preferred SHORE, including development and rollout of the Executive Proprietor (EP) ownership model, positioned as a differentiated alternative to franchise and independent brokerage models.
• Built the EP go-to-market framework end to end: positioning, messaging, recruiting strategy, and expansion playbooks targeting top-producing agents, team leaders, and broker-owners.
• Identify and cultivate market-expansion opportunities, aligning owner-level partnership strategy with company growth objectives and brand standards.
• Develop executive-facing collateral, market intelligence, and planning tools that support recruitment, candidate evaluation, and launch readiness.
• Partner with leadership to drive execution across branding, business development, and market-entry strategy.

Regional Vice President of Sales at Vylla Home (a subsidiary of Carrington Holding Company) (2022-08 – 2025-05)

• Owned full P&L (profit and loss) for the Eastern Region across 21 states plus Washington, D.C., 12 offices, and 600+ agents, with accountability for revenue, units, profitability, recruiting, and growth KPIs.
• Delivered against annual plan every year: 99% of target in 2023, 110% in 2024, and 108% through 05/2025.
• Integrated expansion-broker companies into the Vylla operating platform, guiding owners through the transition and rollup of their books and teams.
• Led and developed a leadership team of 5 Area Vice Presidents averaging 20+ years of brokerage experience, driving alignment, accountability, and execution.
• Strengthened performance through disciplined KPI management and a weekly leadership cadence across listings, pendings, closings, recruiting activity, hires, and ROI; co-developed a modernized recruiting model on a dedicated real estate CRM (customer relationship management) platform with redesigned standards, compensation models, and branded materials.
• Authored and delivered training on Ninja Selling, AI (artificial intelligence) in real estate, personal branding, NAR settlement changes, CCP 2.0, and buyer/seller guidance.
• Hosted and led large-scale training and mastermind sessions with audiences of over 700 attendees.

Senior Vice President of Sales at GenStone Realty (a subsidiary of Fay Financial) (2020-12 – 2022-08)

Recruited to expand a brokerage startup into a value-driven, solutions-based platform.

• Grew agent count 296% and agent production 195% year over year (YoY); doubled the national footprint to 19 territories within 16 months.
• Rolled independent broker-owner companies into the GenStone operating platform, advising owners through merger and integration.
• Implemented a new agent commission model spanning single agents, teams, partnerships, and broker compensation.
• Drove the purchase, implementation, and upgrade of the agent technology stack, moving the company to kvCore (Bold Trail).
• Led virtual and live masterminds and strategic planning with senior executives and operations; directed process improvement across business development, due diligence, compliance, and disposition.

CEO / Team Leader / Business Strategist at Keller Williams Realty Gold (Coastal Living) (2017-08 – 2018-12)

• Led and managed a Keller Williams (KW) Market Center, generating over $260 million in annual revenues.
• Reached 165 sales agents in an area with a Board of REALTORS of 700 members.
• Implemented ownership vision, achieving agent growth and profitability goals.
• Led coaching and mentoring of agents to increase productivity, improve retention, and managed on-site leadership team to facilitate agent training and professional growth initiatives for both associates and staff.
• Increased agent count by over 25%.
• Ranked #1 in market share position, increasing market share lead to 30%.
• Coached and mentored dozens of market center agents to 'Mega' production status.

Director of Recruiting / Career Development at RE/MAX Alliance Group (2009-09 – 2015-11)

• Led corporate talent acquisition across three counties, overseeing daily recruiting operations, agent onboarding, and targeted monthly marketing campaigns to attract top real estate talent.
• Achieved and maintained industry-low attrition rates of 10% or less year over year (YoY) for 6 years through intentional relationship-driven interactions and an agent-first culture.
• Became the 7th largest RE/MAX franchise out of over 6,000 franchises worldwide.
• Directly contributed to company sales volume exceeding $1.4 billion annually.

Principal / Real Estate Recruiting Consultant at Consulting 411 (2008-06 – 2022-08)

• Provided recruiting and talent acquisition training to recruiters and brokers to develop strategies and solutions.
• Delivered training and consulting on pipeline development, agent assessment (DISC/KPA), interviewing techniques, scalable marketing and sourcing methods, onboarding, and retention initiatives to address attrition.
• Delivered coaching to agents and team leaders on business development, go-to-market and brand strategies, database management, team building, and hiring practices.

Director of Recruiting at Bayforce (2006-06 – 2009-02)

• Restructured the recruiting strategy for a boutique SAP staffing and solutions provider, supporting nationwide fulfillment efforts exceeding $25 million.
• Initiated a new onboarding practice and developed a managed services approach, achieving under 2% turnover and a 14% initiative return on investment (ROI).
• Managed a team of 11 recruiters and hundreds of consultants in implementing changes across 4 systems; delivered applicant tracking system (ATS) training to 9 staff and collaborated with a reports developer to customize ATS reports for KPI tracking.
• Closed the largest contract on record, providing over 70 SAP consultants.
• Developed and was awarded 12 Fortune 500 client contracts from authored proposals, delivering SAP staffing services to Pharma, High-Tech, and Defense sectors.

Divisional Recruiting Manager (Multiple Roles) at CDI Corporation (2001-01 – 2006-06)

• Managed a team of 20+ recruiters supporting over $40 million in company fulfillment revenue across 8 branch offices.
• Managed a $12 million managed services contract for Siemens in Austin, TX.
• Increased account margins by 150%.
• Achieved management by objectives (MBO) and return on investment (ROI) goals within 5 months.

Sr. Recruiter / Account Executive at Allegis Group (formerly Aerotek / Maxim Group) (1998-04 – 2001-01)

• Provided full recruiting support to information technology (IT) clients throughout the Orlando, FL metro area.
• Promoted to Account Executive (Sales) as a result of recruiting performance as a Senior Recruiter.